life change

Fun builds relationships. We know how to tear relationships apart: criticism, disinterest, constant disagreement, and entitled superiority. For some bringing their relationships closer together can be mystifying. It shouldn’t be! When we have positive shared experiences with people, we feel closer to them which makes it easier to traverse the topsy-turvy twists that inevitably befall us at one time or another. Because we’ve enjoyed laughter and maybe even just a little inkling of love (or at the very least likability) we are quicker to forgive each other when the going gets hard. Why should building relationships be limited to leisure? You probably interact with your co-workers, direct reports and clients for a much more significant portion of your day to day. Having a positive, healthy relationship with those folks can only build your success, so I say embrace it!

Second of three suggestions: Childlike nature! A child has an open mind, is curious, is eager to learn, to discover. A child has imagination, finds joy in play, and is unbound by convention and habit. To keep this alive, remember that not knowing has value, that wonder has value, that play for the sake of play has value, and that time will move you along quickly enough without you having to help it along.

I often hear from my improv performance students or workshop participants that they love class because a lot of our exercises and activities give them the ability to be like a kid again. They feel more playful and imaginative. They get silly and giggly. Feeling child-like (and not childish) can be a great benefit of practicing the principals that make improvisation great, and it goes far beyond playing schoolyard games and making up fairy tale stories.

I’m excited to incorporate this idea of buoyancy more explicitly into my classes because the benefits are clearly huge. In Seligman’s Research, Buoyancy was the number one predictor of sales success. It allowed people to get back in there and try again with a positive attitude, giving them the numbers they need to achieve the success they desire.

Today is Memorial Day. For many, Memorial Day is nothing but an extra day off from work, or a long weekend chance to get together with family and friends, laugh and chat over a hot barbeque and cold beer, and launch the summer season in style. Considering how hard people work these days and how precious time off is, I totally get it. But the true meaning of Memorial Day is somber and sobering.

We’re getting ready for the runup to my next book, How To Click With People, due in June of this year from Hyperion Books. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to share with you something from the book proposal that didn’t make it into the final manuscript.